3days ago, I was discussing with some friends in front of our family house, when suddenly a herbalist interrupted our discussion.
“Salamu alaikum”, the man shouted.
“Wa alaika Al-salam”, we replied.
He brought several concoctions wrapped in polythene bags.
“I have medicine for typhoid, pneumonia, hypertension, impotence”, the herbalist said, offering some of the concoctions to us.
Nobody among us collected any of the concoctions. So, he repeated the same statement offering the same concoctions to me specifically.
“I am alright and doesn’t suffer from any of the ailments you mentioned”, I replied.
“Did you attend secondary school?” I asked him.
“Yes, Alhaji”, the herbalist replied.
“Now, can you spell either of the words “typhoid” or “pneumonia” and collect N1000 in return?”I asked him.
The herbalist was perplexed and could not give any answer.
“Do you sincerely know the meaning of the words “pneumonia” and “typhoid”?I asked him again.
The man became furious and hurriedly walked way saying “If you don’t want to buy my medications, please do not discourage other people from buying”.
Then I remembered a story narrated to me by Abubakar, a technician working in our office. Six people leaving in his neighbourhood ingested a concoction given to them by a herbalist as a remedy for ‘pile’. They started having bloody diarrhea after taking the concoction. Four of them died while two recovered after difficult resuscitation in hospital.
Many people are suffering in silence due to ignorance, superstitions and poor regulation of the activities of herbalists and traditional healers in Nigeria.
